Shaedon Sharpe, a native of London, Ontario, matched his career best with 36 points and the visiting Portland Trail Blazers defeated the Toronto Raptors 112-103 on Thursday night.
The Trail Blazers (34-43) earned their second win in a row to pull within 2 1/2 games of the final Western Conference play-in position.
Deni Avdija added 26 points and 15 rebounds for Portland. Dalano Banton matched his season best with 23 points, and Donovan Clingan had eight points and 13 rebounds.
RJ Barrett scored 18 points for the Raptors (28-49), who took a second consecutive loss. Ochai Agbaji added 15 points, Orlando Robinson scored 14, A.J. Lawson had 13 and Jonathan Mogbo and Jamal Shead contributed 10 apiece.
Toronto used some resourceful defense to spark a 15-2 run that led to a 31-29 edge after one quarter. Portland hung in and had a chance to take the lead when Sharpe missed a 3-point attempt at the buzzer at the end of the quarter.
The Raptors maintained their aggressive defense and scored the first four points of the second quarter with Scottie Barnes contributing a steal.
Portland battled back and constructed a 9-0 run during a spell of turnovers by each team to take a 41-38 lead with 7:03 to play in the first half. Toronto regained the lead at 44-43 when Lawson picked off Avdija’s pass and raced down the court for a dunk with 3:58 left in the half.
Toronto led 50-47 after a sloppy first half, taking advantage of 15 Portland turnovers resulting in 15 points. Toronto made 11 turnovers leading to six points.
Portland was having trouble converting layups and tip-ins, but when Banton did lay one in with 7:12 to play in the third quarter, the game was tied 60-60.
Banton’s 3-pointer put Portland up by six with 3:07 left in the third, and the Blazers led 83-76 after three quarters.
The Trail Blazers eliminated some of the turnovers and Banton’s 3-pointer had them ahead by eight early in the fourth quarter. Clingan’s dunk bumped the margin to nine with 7:44 remaining. Sharpe’s two free throws increased the gap to 11 with 6:06 left, and Sharpe converted two more foul shots with 3:39 left for a 105-90 advantage.
Toronto’s Jakob Poeltl and Immanuel Quickley were rested.
–Field Level Media
